Ever So Willing
by Kelsica2
Summary: A certain young lady thinks her single father, Geoff, is feeling lonely and needs some love. She's willing to help him. Geoff starts to think he should find a new love, but is willing to wait for the right woman. He waited for HER, after all...
1. Chex Mix and Silly String

First off, this chapter contains heavy Geoff/OC and not much Geoff/Bridgette. Please read the whole thing before you judge it as fangirl fantasy junk, because I just had to use this certain character for the role, and not a TD character. Kthnx.

Second of all, This is sort of an intro chapter for Geoff. I'll try to give the other character who are in this a chapter like this sooner or later, too. I don't want to reveal any couples yet, but almost everybody from the show is coupled up, except like three.

Two of the couples without Geoff is revealed in this chapter, but I'll keep it secret for now. You'll have to read to find out. And there's a hinty hint toward another TD charrie who will appear… Keep an eye out ;)

Okay, please enjoy, and leave a review if you may! I'd love to know what y'all think!

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"Uh, yeah, I'll be sure to check out that caterer for you, dude," a blonde man said, talking into his cell phone as he walked out of his home office and into his kitchen. He checked the papers hanging on the side of the refrigerator, looking for the number to said caterer. "Yeah, I've heard good things about them, but I'll stop by tomorrow to check out the grub…" He nodded as the customer said a few more things, then added, "Okay, will do. I'll call you after I meet up with them… Yeah, you too." He snapped his phone shut, then tossed it on the counter and ran a hand through his hair, breathing a sigh of relief. That was the last call he had to make and he could finally call it a day.

To say Geoff Sanders had not changed much over the years would be an understatement. He was just about as youthful as he had been when he was sixteen, and it greatly affected his physical appearance. Instead of having the body of a man who was almost forty, he had the physique of a man in his early thirties. Though his body wasn't as tone as it had been in earlier years, he did not don the beer belly that most men his age had acquired. His hair hadn't gone gray yet, but he had gotten it cut significantly shorter over the years. It didn't really matter most of the time, however, since he still wore his lucky hat every now and again.

He may have changed a little bit on the outside, but he hadn't changed much on the inside. He was the same fun-loving, friendly, sweet guy he had always been, but a little bit more mature, a little less gullible. All part of growing up… Growing up a tad was sort of necessary, since Geoff became a party planner. One of the best ones in is province, too!

Geoff opened the fridge and pulled out a can of root beer. Once he shut the door, he saw the picture. _Her_ picture.

His heart always skipped a beat when he saw that picture, or any picture of her, for that matter. He took a look at it, but dared not touch it. He hated when it got moved around.

The girl in the picture looked to be in her twenties and was smiling that smile that Geoff had always loved. Her long hair had been tied into a sloppy ponytail and she was wearing sweatpants and a camisole, but Geoff had always thought she looked beautiful no matter what she wore. As he studied the picture some more, he thought back to his teen years.

He had gone on a reality TV show, Total Drama Island, when he was sixteen. There, he met Bridgette Carlisle. As they grew closer together as teammates, they also fell for one another and started dating. They dated for two amazing years and through three seasons, but then fate took a toll on their love.

Total Drama ended, and the cast were going their separate ways. Bridgette and Geoff had lived close to one another, but then time came around for universities. Geoff would be attending the local college, because that was the most he could afford. Bridgette, on the other hand, got a full ride scholarship to UCLA, due to her excellent grades. That's right. All the way in _Los Angeles_. Nowhere near Canada.

Bridgette didn't feel like she could handle a long distance relationship, so she cut things off with Geoff. It was the last thing she wanted to do, but she felt it was for the best. Geoff had been far from thrilled at the time.

He had gone into a spiraling fit of depression. He could barely focus on his professors' teachings, or especially his job at McDonald's. Once he gave a customer who specifically asked for no tomatoes a cheeseburger _with_ tomatoes and sent her to the hospital due to her severe tomato allergy, he was good as fired. By December, not only was he jobless, but he had flunked his first semester of college. Just when he was about to give up all hope, he was invited to a Christmas party by his good friend, Owen.

That was where he met Candace Coleman.

_Geoff stuffed his freezing hand into his coat pocket, ringing the door bell with the other. Almost immediately, Owen flung the door open and dragged Geoff into the apartment._

"_It's good to see ya, buddy!" Owen loudly said, giving him a bear hug._

_Once Owen let go and Geoff could breathe again, he muttered, "Thanks for inviting me, bro… Sorry I couldn't bring anything… I lost my job a while back."_

"_I know, you already mentioned that when I called you," Owen reminded him, taking his coat and tossing it on the coat rack. "But don't worry about that! Just enjoy the party! I know how much you loooove parties!"_

"_I-I haven't really partied much lately," Geoff mumbled, looking down at the floor. "Not much to party about, y'know?"_

_Owen frowned. He knew the Bridgette break-up had taken a toll on him, but he didn't think it would make him practically _comatose_! This guy was in desperate need of cheering up, and fast! "You want any cocoa? Izzy makes a really mean one! I think it's the meatballs she puts in there…"_

_Geoff gave him a freaked out look, then said, "No thanks… I'm good."_

_Owen was about to add something else, but the doorbell rang before he could. "I'll be right back!" He waddled off, leaving Geoff to stand alone by the snack table._

_As he dug around the Chex mix with his hand, he felt another one in the bowl, but it wasn't his. He looked up, seeing a girl with strawberry blonde hair look up at him as well. Both took their hands out of the bowl. Geoff looked embarrassed but the girl just giggled._

"_Hee hee, sorry," she said, setting her snack plate down by the cookies. "I didn't see you there."_

"_Yeah, me either," Geoff said, scratching the back of his head. "Uh, I'm Geoff."_

"_Candace." She extended her hand, which he lamely shook. "You were on Total Drama, right?"_

_Geoff nodded, hoping she wouldn't mention Bridgette. _

"_Yeah, my brother was on that show," Candace explained, taking a cup of hot cider from the table and sipping it. "I guess you know him, since he probably invited you to this party."_

"Owen's_ your brother?" Geoff asked in shock, taking a second to take in her appearance._

_She looked nothing like anyone in her family, being petite in size. Her brown eyes shone with happiness, which was only emphasized more when she smiled, which she seemed to do a lot._

_Candace rolled her eyes a bit. "I know, we don't really look alike. I get that a lot. Probably because he has fully blonde hair and mine is more reddish."_

"_Uh… Yeah. _That's_ why."_

"_But it's nice to finally meet you!" Candace beamed at him. "You seem like a great guy! Besides my brother, I always rooted for you"_

_For the first time in what felt like forever, Geoff smiled. Not a huge smile, but it was still a smile. "Thanks. You seem nice, too."_

_He never did see Owen again that night. Well, he saw him under the mistletoe with Izzy, but he didn't actually talk to him. Probably because he spent the whole night with Candace. _

_They had talked about a lot of stuff. He learned that she was only two years younger than him and was head cheerleader at her school. She told him about her friends, her family, her life. She was an open book and Geoff was an intent reader. It was weird, but Candace made him feel… comfortable. There was something about her that was special. She always had a smile, even when she was discussing something less that pleasant, such as the time she broke her ankle when she fell off the top of a human pyramid. It was infectious; Geoff had to smile, too._

_As it got later and several guests left early, Geoff started talking as well. He even mentioned the break-up with Bridgette, which was something he hated to discuss. But with her, he felt like it was okay to tell her. She had been so sympathetic. Even gave him her phone number so he could call if he ever needed someone to talk to. _

_By the time that Geoff left Izzy and Owen's apartment, he suddenly didn't feel so bad about Bridgette. And he knew he liked Candace. He hadn't fallen madly in love like he had with Bridgette at the first sight, but he fell in like at first sight. Not even like-like. Just _like_. And maybe that was a better way to start…_

As time passed, Candace and Geoff spent more time together. As they got closer as friends, she helped Geoff focus on his schoolwork and he eventually caught up with the rest of his class. She looked through the classifieds with him and found him a job at a party store, which had hours that worked right around his schedule. Him getting his life back on track was all thanks to Candace and her loving friendship.

_Eighteen year old Candace was sitting on the bed in Geoff's dorm room, flipping through one of his huge textbooks. "I can't believe I'm finally going to be in college this August."_

"_I know," Geoff said, looking around in his mini fridge. "It's about time. I'm getting tired of hanging out with some high school dweeb!"_

_Candace mock-gasped, laughing and throwing his pillow at him. "You're such a jerk!"_

_As she continued to giggle, Geoff pulled a bowl out of the fridge and shut the door, sitting down next to her. Her birthday had been a while ago, but he wanted to wait to ask her this question. He would have felt weird asking her before, but she was a woman now. There wouldn't be any problems… Unless she said no._

"_Ooooh, Chex mix!" Candace exclaimed, popping some into her mouth. "You knew I was coming, didn't you?"_

"_I know you pretty well," Geoff said with a proud grin. "Dig deeper. You know the good stuff's always in the bottom…"_

_Candace did as he said, tongue stuck out cutely in concentration. As she dug, a hand grabbed her own and she gasped in shock. Geoff pulled her hand out of the bowl, still holding onto it tightly. "Candy, we've been friends for two years, and you basically saved me from myself."_

_Candace grinned a bit, but was unsure of where he was going with what he was saying. "You had it in you all along. All I did was bring it out."_

"_And I'm so glad that you did." Geoff grinned back at her. "Candace… I like you. Like like you. You're one of my best friends." He looked at her with puppy dog eyes and asked, "Go out with me?"_

_Candace was silent for a moment, but suddenly squeezed his hand, got close enough to him that their noses were touching and whispered, "I've been waiting for you to ask me that for two years…"_

Geoff faintly smiled at the memory, thinking more and more of Candace. He hadn't thought about her this much in a while… For the next couple of years after that last memory, they dated and grew closer to one another. They both had a lot of common and brought so much joy to the other's life. Dare he say it, he felt even happier with her than he had with Bridgette.

After he graduated, he worked for a party planning company for three years before he finally started a party planning business of his own. Candace had been absolutely ecstatic for him. She even threw him a big party! She had been so proud of it, planning it all by herself. But Geoff did something that sort of stole her thunder…

"_Attention, everyone!" Candace cried, standing in the middle of Geoff's apartment's living room. Once the audience was hushed, she gestured to Geoff, who was standing beside her and said, "It's time for Mister Party Planner to make a speech!"_

_As Geoff waved and pumped his fists and his friends and family whooped and cheered for him, he began, "Thanks, dudes! It feels awesome to finally have my own business! I feel… so… grown-upish…" A few people laughed at his choice of words as he wrapped his arm around Candace. "Honestly, I couldn't have done it without you guys." He looked down at his girlfriend of five years and grinned. "Especially you, Candy. You inspired me when I wanted to give up, picked me up when I wanted to stay down… And you made out with me when we'd make up. That was _awesome_!"_

_Candace blushed in embarrassment and a few people laughed. She still kept her smile. "Geoff, that might not be appropriate to discuss with our guests," she hissed at him, trying to still sound happy._

_Geoff separated from her, standing a few feet away from her. "Sorry, babe." Next to them was the snack table, and he shoved a large bowl toward her. "Maybe some Chex mix will make up for it?"_

_Candace smirked. "Aww, our snack _always _makes me feel better!" She closed her eyes and dug around, expecting to find his hand, like she always did. Instead she felt something small, square and… velvety?_

_She pulled the item out of the bowl and her eyes widened when she saw a navy blue jewelry box in her hand. Before she opened it, Geoff gently took it from her and got down on one knee, making a few people gasp. He popped it open, revealing a modest ring, with a silver band and a small diamond. It wasn't much, but to Candace, it was absolutely beautiful._

_As tears brimmed in her eyes, Geoff looked up at her with hope and asked, "Candace Stephanie Coleman, will you make me the happiest dude alive and marry me?"_

_Their guests waited silently in anticipation, and after ten seconds, a small tear of joy rolled down Candace's cheek and she whimpered, "Yes. Of course I'll marry you…"_

_As everyone else clapped and cheered for the couple, Geoff slid the ring onto her left ring finger and stood up, giving her the most passionate kiss he had ever given her._

Geoff sighed and looked back at the picture hanging in front of him. Candace looked pretty much like she always had looked after they got married… At least when she was just bumming around their house. The only difference was that in this picture, Candace had a huge, pregnant belly.

_After Geoff came home from checking out inflatable bounce houses for a ten year old boy's upcoming birthday party, he found his wife sitting on the living room couch in their newly purchased house, looking to be almost in shock. She still looked happy, though her smile wasn't as big as it usually was. She was holding something in her hand, but he couldn't really tell what it was._

"_Candy?" he called out, walking into the living room. "Candace?" he said again, getting her attention this time. She smiled her usual smile and stood up, giving him a long kiss._

"_Hey, Geoffy. I-I have some news."_

"_What's up?"_

_She looked down bashfully at her feet, hands behind her back. "You know that thing the doctor's never said I would be able to do?"_

"_Go anywhere without taking your insulin shot in the morning?" Geoff guessed, remembering her type one diabetes. _

"_No," she said, shaking her head. "The other thing."_

_He thought it over for a moment, not remembering what she meant. Suddenly, it clicked and his jaw dropped. "You're kidding…"_

_She gave him a small grin and nodded. "I would have put this in a bowl of Chex mix, but that would have been gross, since I peed on this…" She pulled the mystery item from behind her back and showed it to him. It was a pregnancy test, with a small pink plus sign on it. She looked up at him with teary eyes and whispered, "You're going to be a father…"_

Geoff chuckled, remembering how excited he had been that day, and the few months after that. But he frowned as he remembered that as the pregnancy got farther along, Candace got sicker and weaker.

It was a miracle that she had gotten pregnant at all, since the doctor's said she never would. But since she did, it did a lot of damage to herself. She had started to get really sick in the third trimester, and though her diabetes probably didn't cause the sickness, it probably didn't help much, either.

Her doctor ordered her to go on bed rest at the hospital to be further treated, but few days before she delivered the baby, the couple was faced with a tough decision. She was too ill to give birth and live. They could either save the baby's life, or hers.

"_The baby's," Candace quietly answered almost immediately after the doctor asked._

"_W-What?" Geoff asked, his gut wrenching in fear. "But Candace, what about _you_?"_

_Candace sighed, laying back down in her hospital bed as the monitors beeped with every weak beat her heart let out. "I could not live, knowing I killed by baby just to spare myself. This baby is a gift from God and I'm not going to let anyone destroy it."_

_Geoff was shaking by this point. "No, no!" He quickly kneeled by her bed, gently taking her tiny hand in his strong one. "I can't let you die! I _need _you! I _love_ you! I-I can't raise this kid on my own!"_

_Candace squeezed his hand as much as she could, giving him a faint smile. "You _can_ raise our child, Geoff. You're going to be a great father. I can tell…"_

_They discussed it more and he finally agreed. He didn't have to like it, but he didn't want to lose his future child, either. But it's not like he wanted to lose his wife… _

_Days later, she went into labor. After hours of screaming, pain and medical attention, Geoff and Candace were blessed with a beautiful baby girl. After she had gotten cleaned up and wrapped in a blanket, the doctor had finally handed her to her father._

_The small tuft of hair she had was platinum blonde, but her eyes were still shut too tight to tell who's eyes color she had gotten. Geoff knew that every parent thought the same thing about their kids, but he knew that she truly was the most beautiful baby in the whole wide world. _

_He looked down at Candace, him beaming grin suddenly fading. Her hair was messy and matted from all the sweat, and she was obviously weak from the trials of labor. She was panting and doctors and nurses were rushing around the room, doing everything they could to save her. Geoff knew she wouldn't make it much longer, though._

_Choking back a sob, he quietly asked, "You want to hold her?"_

_Candace looked up at him, her eyes barely able to keep themselves open, but she smiled and nodded as much as she could. He gently placed the crying newborn in her frail arms and she cradled her to her body. "Hello, Heidi Allison Sanders," she cooed, running a finger down her cheek. They had never agreed on a name before, so he had no idea why she was calling their baby that. "You were worth it," she whispered, more to Geoff then the baby or even herself. "You were worth it all…" She placed a small kiss on her forehead and the baby let out more loud wails, as most newborns do._

_Geoff could tell she was struggling to hold her up, so he took her from his wife's arms. He kneeled down beside her bed and quietly said, "You would have been a great mother…" He had given up hope on the doctors, since there was nothing more they could do for her._

"_And you're going to be a great father," Candace whispered, touching his arm ever so slightly. "Take good care of Heidi. And eat plenty of Chex mix when I'm gone." _

_Geoff couldn't help but smile through his tears. Even when his life was crashing right before his eyes, she managed to get him to crack a grin. It quickly faded though, and he finally let the tears slide down his cheeks. "I'm gonna miss you, babe…"_

_Candace rubbed his arm. "I'm not going to be gone forever… I'll just be in a different location." She pointed up to the ceiling, but he knew she meant Heaven. "I'll be watching over you two…" She took a good look at her husband and daughter and finally let hot tears escape her brown eyes. "My beautiful family… I love you so much…"_

As she had indeed loved them, him and their daughter both. She made the ultimate sacrifice for her baby, not knowing if she would really die or not. Geoff thought back to a few hours after that, to what had made the best day of his life take a major downturn.

_The doctors had made Geoff sit outside the room, since they needed space to try and help Candace survive. He knew chances were slim, but there was still the small sliver of hope in his heart, hoping she'd make it out._

_Their daughter had to be taken away for a while, to make sure nothing had gone wrong during labor. This only made Geoff more nervous._

_The head doctor stepped out of Candace's room, removing his gloves. Geoff sprang up from his hard wooden chair, looking at him with great anticipation. When he saw his downtrodden expression, Geoff knew his beloved wife and the mother of his first and only child was gone. And was never coming back._

Geoff gripped his head, not wanting to remember her funeral. That had to be the second worst day of his entire life. But he had to stay strong, and he always had. Why? He had to be strong for his daughter. His beautiful Heidi Allison Sanders. The light of his life and the reason he kept going after Candace's death. She would have wanted him to go on, to raise their daughter to the best of his ability. And like Candace had known deep down in her heart, he was a pretty good father.

Since he was like a big kid himself, he knew how to act around kids. Sure, the infant years were tough, but just as fun as the other years. His friends were more than happy to help out, since they completely understood that both Candace's death, Heidi's birth and his barely off the ground business had been more than stressful on him.

LeShawna was a stay-at-home mom, so she watched her twin toddlers, Trevor and Jade, while her husband was at work. She'd take care of Heidi whenever Geoff needed to work on parties, and if he had to stay out late, Heidi just stayed there for the night. When Duncan Caliver came home to his loving family, he barely realized that Heidi was not his daughter, since he considered her one of his own children. She was his best friend's daughter, so she was close enough.

Owen and Izzy, who got married shortly before Heidi was conceived, were a huge help too. When LeShawna or Duncan couldn't take care of her, Owen and Izzy stepped in. They would watch her, play with her, chase her around, and spoil her rotten. They _were_ her aunt and uncle, after all.

Of course, Owen had been devastated by his sister's death. How could he not have been? When he and Izzy arrived to the hospital the day after Heidi was born and he saw Geoff sitting outside what had been her room, he could tell instantly by his brother-in-law's expression and his beet red eyes that she was gone. Even though he wanted to scream and cry and sob, he didn't.

"_Don't be sad, guys," Owen somberly said as Izzy, for once not bouncing off the walls, hugged Geoff and softly cried along with him. Tears were brimming in the hefty man's eyes, but he refused to shed a tear. He weakly smiled at them as they looked at him and he whispered, "Candace wouldn't have wanted that… She would want us to celebrate the baby… Let's go visit her, okay?"_

Owen's words had struck Geoff's heart, and even though he had continued to cry over his great loss for a while, he knew Candace would be okay. Better than she would have been on Earth. Still, Geoff hated that his daughter would never meet Candace where she could remember her. Still, he went on and raised a fine young lady, one that made her father proud.

Heidi Sanders was a cute girl, with short, shoulder-length hair, which was the same light blonde as her father's hair, and her mother's beautiful brown eyes. She had a petite figure, though she wasn't as slim as her mother and Geoff, being a stereotypical protective single father, was glad the young teen didn't show off too much of it with revealing clothing. She mostly stuck to t-shirts and skinny jeans, which were a bit too skinny to Geoff's liking, but at least they covered everything.

Heidi was a pretty good student, getting mostly As and Bs, and the occasional C. She wanted to all As, but Geoff was still more than happy with her grades, since that had been much, _much _better than he had done in school. She was pretty girly, though she knew how to hang with guys, since she was mainly raised by one. Heidi was very polite for a teenager, and always respected authority. The fact that her godfather, her Uncle Duncan was a police officer probably helped mold her respectful personality more.

Even though her parents were both very athletic, Heidi couldn't play a sport to save her life. Geoff had signed her up to play soccer when she was about seven, and she broke her leg before they even played an official game. After much begging and crying, Geoff finally agreed to let her quit. It was probably for the best, because if young Heidi had stuck to athletics, which she hated, she might have never discovered music, which she loved. Aunt Izzy and Uncle Owen signed her up for drum lessons when she was nine and she's been playing ever since. Trevor and Jade, who were only two years older than her and thought of her as a sister, had been thinking about starting a band with her as the drummer, but could never get it pulled together. Still, they had fun playing together, just like they did when they were little.

The front door suddenly opened and he heard footsteps coming toward the kitchen, which snapped him out of his thoughts. A blonde girl, who looked to be around fifteen, poked her head in the entrance, grinning at her father. "Hi, Daddy," she greeted, stepping into the kitchen.

"Hey, Heidi," he greeted back, leaning against the counter and smiling at her. She snatched the root beer from his hands, taking a big gulp. He pretended to look angry and told her, "Y'know, there's more in the fridge."

She handed it back to him and shrugged. "I know, but I like making you make that face!"

Geoff poked her in her belly, which he knew was he ticklish spot, and it made her giggle and lightly slap his hand away from her. "How was school?" he asked as he headed toward the kitchen table, with Heidi following behind him.

She sat down across from him and played with a strand of the short blonde hair that was dangling in front of her face. "Pretty good. I met this nice new girl named Carmen Burromuerto."

Geoff chuckled. "Burromuerto. That's a funny last name…"

"I know, right?" Heidi said with a giggle. "But she was really sweet. Jade was kinda jerkish to her at lunch, but that's just Jade being Jade."

Geoff rolled his eyes with a smirk. "Oh, she's _definitely_ Duncan and LeShawna's daughter… She'll warm up to her sooner or later."

"She always does." She looked back at the refrigerator, then back at her father. "Daddy? I saw you looking at her picture again."

Geoff's smirk disappeared and he curtly nodded. "Yeah… You always do catch me, don't you?" The smirk came back for a moment, but soon faded.

Heidi knew who Candace was, since he had shown her pictures of her and told her everything he could about her. He thought about not telling her, but he knew she had the right to know who her mother was. She was sad that she didn't have a mom like most of her other friends, but she had a great father and that was enough for her. She tried not to let it, or anything else, get her down. She really was Candace's daughter.

She didn't know what to say to him after that. _Do you miss Mom? _Of course he did. _Is she in Heaven? _Yes, and she was looking over them everyday. _Was she pretty? Do I look like her? _She was beautiful and she looked almost exactly like her. Heidi had asked all those questions before, and she always got the same answers. She didn't want to ask them again. She knew it hurt her dad to talk about it.

Once Geoff had gotten on his feet and didn't need his friends' help with Heidi as much, he had tried dating again. He met a lot of nice girls and liked them and all, but he didn't feel the way he felt around Candace, not even on the night they met. Not to mention little Heidi didn't want to share her daddy with another girl and would scream and throw tantrums every time he would bring a woman home to meet her. Now that she was older, she was okay with it, but he didn't seem as interested. He had a career, great friends and a beautiful daughter. Why did he need a wife?

Heidi never did know how to talk to her father about his love life, so she decided to change the subject. "Uncle Owen, Aunt Izzy and Dora are coming over tomorrow, right?"

Geoff nodded in confirmation, standing up and heading out of the kitchen, with his daughter close behind. When Heidi was barely a year old, Izzy found out she was pregnant. Nine months later, she gave birth to Pandora Candace Coleman, a beautiful redheaded little girl. Her middle name, of course, was chosen in honor of Owen's late sister. Izzy had chosen the first name because she thought it sounded like a nice name, though her mother and mother-in-law almost had heart attacks when they heard their granddaughter's name. Even though the years had made the redhead mellow out a bit, Izzy was still completely kooky.

Since she was born, it was clear that Pandora was not nearly as crazy as her parents. She was goofy, but wasn't close to being as weird as her father or mother. When Heidi first met her, she could barely talk, so she kept calling her Dora, since it was too hard to pronounce the whole thing. Somehow it just stuck and everybody's called her that since. Dora considers it a good thing, since she hates her name, but doesn't want to tell her parents and hurt their feelings.

"You're going to have to clean the living room tonight," Geoff told Heidi, pointing to the living room, where pillows and several different colors of silly string were scattered all over the place. "That game of Ultimate Pillow Fight we had last night ended even worse than usual…"

Heidi crossed her arms and pouted, just like she did when she was four and he wouldn't buy her a kitten for her birthday. He would have if he could have, but she was allergic, just like he was. But that's another story. "Aww, I don't wanna!" Even though she was respectful of her elders, she'd jokingly defy her dad every now and again. And he knew she was kidding around, so it was all good.

"Hey, you started the fight! The rules to Ultimate Pillow Fight are clear: you start it, you clean up the aftermath," he reminded her, lightly shoving her into the living room. "You get cleaning and I'll order some Chinese food, okay?"

"Oh yeah, it's Friday!" Heidi happily said, pulling some green silly string off the flat-screen TV. "I love Take-out Friday!" She tossed it into her father's hair, which he promptly pulled out and stuck on her back. She didn't notice though, since she had turned around by then to hide her laughter. "Order lots of egg rolls!" she called out as he walked into the kitchen to get his cell phone. She then pulled some pink silly string off the bowl on the coffee table that always had Chex mix in it. She had no idea why her dad bought so much, but she liked it, so she wasn't going to complain…

"I always do, buddy!" he yelled back at her, dialing the number to the Diamond Wok, their favorite take-out place. As he waited for someone to pick up, he stood in the opening of the kitchen, looking at the picture of pregnant Candace. Then he turned around and looked at Heidi, who was laughing and spinning around, trying to remove the silly string that Geoff had stuck on her back.

Geoff smiled a bit, looking at his daughter with a sense of accomplishment. _It's funny how the worst day of my life also turned out to be the best…_

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I hope I wrote okay for Geoff. It's sort of hard to write all sorrowed, cuz he's such a happy guy, but he's still happy by the end! Yay for Geoffy! :D I dunno, I think he's an underrated character. I love writing for him :3

See that review button down there? Yeah, _that one. Mind clicking it and leaving some thoughts on this? Thankers 8D_


	2. Mexican Soda and Newton Balls

Before y'all are like, "Asian kids can't have green eyes!", because a few friends of mine in real life DID think that, it IS possible with Half-Asian kids. And since Alejandro has green eyes, I figured why not?

And before jumping to conclusions, all of the OC children featured in this fic are not all siblingless daughters. These are just the first three OCs to be explored more with. There are dudes, too! But those are for later chapters!

* * *

Heidi grabbed her biology textbook out of her locker, then slammed the door shut and headed toward the new girl's locker. "Hi, Carmen," she happily greeted her.

Carmen Burromuerto, the newest freshman at Verona High, was a beautiful girl, despite the ugly meaning behind her last name. With her parents' genetics, it would have been impossible for her _not _to be. Her skin was a light brown, with slightly darker brunette hair tied back in a thick ponytail that went down her back. By her almond eye shape, you could tell one of her parents were Asian, but her eyes were a light green, just like her Hispanic parent's eyes.

She was a tiny girl, not nearly as curvy as her mother had been as a teenager. She also dressed much more modestly than her mother had, wearing mostly cute sweaters and skirts with leggings instead of halter tops and short shorts. However, it was clear from a few of the freshman boys' expressions that she didn't need such clothing to get attention.

Carmen looked up from the mirror in her locker door, then grinned when she saw her new friend. "Hey!" She grabbed her biology book, then slammed the door shut and clutched the book to her chest. "Did you finish the homework?"

As they started walking to class, Heidi's smile disappeared and she sighed. "Yeah, but I don't think I did very well on it. Biology's so not my thing."

Carmen frowned, then suggested, "Maybe you could ask Mr. Torres for help. My parents say they knew him when they were just teenagers!"

"Really?" Carmen nodded and Heidi said, "My dad knows him, too! They haven't talked in forever, but maybe that'll earn me some bonus points with him…"

"Or maybe you should ask that Melanie girl," Carmen suggested as they walked in the classroom, subtly pointing to a brunette girl with dark onyx eyes, who was at her desk busily working on some homework due for the next day in her algebra class. "She seems to be a smartie."

"I don't really talk to her, though. It'd be sorta awkward to ask her for help, after years of not really crossing paths." Heidi sat down next to the desk that Carmen took. "Besides, she's Mr. Torres' _daughter_. It'd be weird if I asked her before I asked him."

Carmen shrugged, dismissing the idea, since Heidi didn't seem up to it. "I could always help you at my place," the half Latina-half Asian said, trying to hide her proud grin. "I'm pretty good at this kinda stuff myself…"

"Really?" Heidi beamed and exclaimed, "That'd be _awesome_!" right as the bell rang, so it basically drowned out her 'awesome'. She turned herself around to face Mr. Torres, who was taking his place up at the front of the classroom.

"Good day, class," the tan-skinned man said, utmost seriousness in his tone. "I expect you all did your homework?" He got a few grunts in confirmation, but a few looked down awkwardly, trying to scribble something down on their worksheets to at least get partial credit, since they had either forgotten to do them or were too lazy to do it the other night. As they passed their worksheets, some done better than others, up to the front of the room, a knock could be heard at the door. The boy behind the knock didn't even bother to wait for the teacher to open the door before he stepped inside, his maroon backpack slung over his shoulder.

Heidi raised an eyebrow, since the boy didn't seem familiar to her. Was he a new student?

His sandy blonde hair was messily perfect, in that weird way that only certain guys can pull off with their hair without looking like slobs. He had on navy blue t-shirt and some faded jeans, both of which Heidi guessed came from American Eagle. She was never good at telling which shirts came from where when the name or logo wasn't across the front… And she thought it was weird that they have American Eagles in Canada. They really should have called it Canadian Eagle or something. But there was no time for her mind to drift, because she still wanted to know who he was.

Mr. Torres raised a confused eyebrow. "Can I help you, son?"

"Yeah, I'm new here," the boy explained, holding up his schedule and pointing to a certain section on it. "I'm supposed to be in Bio with some dude named Noah Torres. You him?"

Noah narrowed his eyes a bit and firmly said, "That's _Mr. Torres _to you."

"Right, right," he said with a calm grin and a nod. "Mr. Torres, it is."

"And who might you be?"

"Thomas Campbell," he told the teacher. "Just moved here from Seattle."

Noah nodded, taking up the last of the homework papers. "I see."

"Isn't he, like, the second new student we've had in the past two weeks?" a scrawny boy with dark black hair and a freckled nose under his sleek black glasses asked, his raspy voice like a knife in most of the students' ears.

Noah looked at him, clearly annoyed by the interruption. "We don't need your commentary every five minutes, Mr. McGrady."

"But I just-"

"Shut up, Felix," Melanie, who usually wasn't so outspoken, snapped, glaring at him with her dark eyes. "My fath- I mean, _Mr. Torres _is right."

Felix shot her a glare too, but let out a "Gosh!" and mumbled, "She always picks on me!" in irritation.

Noah cleared his throat and continued, "Well, Thomas, I'll give you your paperwork for class later on. Feel free to take a seat. There's one in the second row between Felix and Heidi." He pointed to the desk to Heidi's right. Thomas tossed his backpack at the foot of the desk, then plopped down and casually crossed his arms. As Noah neatly stacked the homework papers on his desk, he went to the whiteboard in the front of the classroom and began the lesson for the day.

As he began his mini-lecture, Thomas took a look around the room, his gray eyes meeting Heidi's brown ones. He offered her a friendly smile, which she slowly offered back. Both turned their attention to the front of the room, trying to keep up with what their super-intelligent teacher was saying.

* * *

After Heidi called her dad to tell him where she would be, she got on Carmen's bus and before she knew it, she was in front of her large house. With the elaborate landscape and modern design, it was definitely a beautiful home. Heidi loved her house and would never want to move to another one, but she really, _really_ wanted to check out the inside of that place!

Once the girls stepped in, they were promptly greeted by a maid, who started chattering in Spanish as she took their backpacks. Carmen chattered right back, speaking perfect Spanish. Once the maid scurried off to put their bags away, Carmen led her into the kitchen, which was filled with sheer stainless steel and every fancy kitchen appliance known to man. Carmen began rooting through the fridge and asked, "Would you like anything to drink? We've got water, Coke, Mountain Dew, um…" She pulled out a glass bottle and raised an eyebrow. "Some weird Mexican soda my dad always has shipped to us. He doesn't like me drinking them, because they're expensive, but he'd let you get away with it, since you're a guest and all."

"I'll just have water, please," Heidi said, watching as Carmen pulled out one of the fancy sodas and a Brita pitcher and shut the door. As she sat it down on the marble counter and started rooting around the cabinets for a glass, Heidi mentioned, "I didn't know you speak Spanish."

Carmen nodded, pulling out a tall, thin glass. "Dad's from Spain. He's been teaching me since I was old enough to talk. Mom's Japanese, but Dad knows more Japanese than she does, for some reason." She giggled as she poured water from the pitcher and handed it to Heidi.

"Thanks," Heidi said with a grin, taking a sip. "And thanks for letting me come over."

"No problem! I've been wanting to have a friend over since we moved here!"

"Speaking of which, you guys got unpacked quickly…" The blonde looked around, not seeing a cardboard box in sight. "Didn't you just move here a week ago? And this is a pretty big house, so…"

"Nah, we've been here for almost three weeks," Carmen said, popping the fizzy purple soda open and taking a drink. "My parents let me wait until we were settled in to start school."

Just then, a very handsome Hispanic man, dressed in the sharpest suit money could buy, walked through the front door, calling out, "I'm home!" since he knew his daughter must have been home by then. He sat his briefcase down and headed into the kitchen, where he knew Carmen would probably be.

"Hi, Daddy!" As the man walked into the kitchen, Carmen ran up to him and gave him a big hug.

He smiled, wrapping an arm around her, as well. "_Hola, princesa_," he warmly greeted, giving her a small kiss on the top of her head. It was then that he finally noticed the unfamiliar girl. "And _hola_ to you too, young lady." He released Carmen and asked, "Who might you be?"

"I'm Heidi, sir." She smiled, sat her cup down and walked over to shake his hand. "It's nice to meet you, Mr. Burromuerto."

He grinned, shaking her hand back. "My, what manners! You don't see that much with teens nowadays. But feel free to call me Alejandro. Mr. Burromuerto makes me feel like I'm still at work."

Heidi giggled, then nodded in agreement with his request. As she took another drink of her water, Carmen said, "Dad, you remember when I told you and Mom about her last night, right? And then we talked about Mr. Torres?"

"_Noah_ Torres?" Alejandro nodded. "Yeah, he was in that… thing your mother and I met at." Alejandro and his wife hated talking about Total Drama, mostly because it had humiliated his love out of her mind, with her ever-changing hair, not to mention losing her front tooth and gaining a gold one. But to put it short, Carmen knew nothing about the show and thought her parents met on a plane ride to some unknown location.

"Heidi's dad knows him too! Back when they were teens, like you and Mom!" Carmen exclaimed, taking a sip of her soda.

Alejandro raised an eyebrow at this, then narrowed his eyes once he saw what she was drinking. "Carmen, how many times do I have to tell you not to drink too many of those? You had one yesterday, and we only get six in each pack."

Carmen looked down at the bottle, then up at her father with glistening eyes. "I'm sorry, Daddy. I didn't mean to upset you. I just really wanted one…"

Alejandro's stern glance melted after a few seconds and he sighed. No matter how old she got, he could never stay mad when his little girl looked so guilty and sorry. She had definitely gotten his charm. "It's okay. But no more until we get more, okay?" Carmen nodded, then Alejandro looked at his daughter's new friend and asked, "Heidi, is it? What's your father's name?"

Heidi looked confused, but told him, "Geoff Sanders, sir. Why?"

Alejandro thought for a moment. Geoff Sanders… Could it be _Total Drama _Geoff Sanders? He had never talked to him much, since he wasn't in Total Drama World Tour. Most of his interaction with him had been biting remarks a few days after World Tour ended. He didn't mind, and he couldn't blame him. Alejandro _was_ the one who tricked his girlfriend into cheating on him on international television, not to mention taking home a million dollars when Bridgette could have very well had a chance without his interference…

"Tell me, is he blonde? Blue eyes?" Heidi nodded and he asked, "Big, goofy grin? Cowboy hat?"

Heidi nodded again. "Sounds exactly like him. Do you know him?"

"I knew him when we were teenagers, yes," he said with a nod, still looking her over. Heidi had the same blonde hair as him, the same cleft in her chin as him, though it was significantly smaller, but she looked nothing like Bridgette. "Is Bridgette your mother's name?"

"No, her name was Candace," Heidi told him, looking more confused than ever.

_Was? _Thinking he knew what that meant, he decided not to press on the subject anymore and nodded. "All right then. So, you're Geoff's girl?"

She nodded with a small grin. "Yes, that's me! It's so cool that you know my dad! Did you know my mom?"

Alejandro shook his head. "No, unfortunately."

Heidi nodded, then Carmen, who looked impatient from not being a part of the conversation, said, "Dad, we have to do our homework. We'll be upstairs." Carmen tugged on Heidi's hand, trying to drag her toward the staircase across the kitchen and living room.

Heidi waved at Alejandro as she was led to the steps. "Nice meeting you, Mist-" She paused, remembering what he told her about calling him by his last name, then quickly corrected herself, "Alejandro!" Carmen dragged her up the staircase and they were gone before either of them knew it.

The Latino man sat down on a tall bar stool by the island, grabbing the soda bottle that Carmen left behind. He took a drink, then sat it down. He didn't know why, but he wanted to find out more about this Heidi girl and her mother…

* * *

A few hours later, Geoff arrived to pick up Heidi. After she thanked Mr. Burromuerto, or rather Alejandro, for having her and said goodbye to Carmen, she ran to her dad's car and they drove off right as a sleek silver car pulled into the empty space that had been next to them. _Guess Carmen's mom finally came home, _Heidi thought as they pulled out of the very high class neighborhood and onto the highway.

"So, you worked on… Geology?" Geoff asked, sounding like he knew that wasn't right.

"_Biology_, Dad." Heidi couldn't help but giggle, since he still looked so confused.

"Right, yeah…" He nodded and muttered, "I totally know what that is…"

Heidi smiled a bit, looked out the window at the lit up buildings as they whizzed past them and asked, "Dad? Remember when you told me a while back that you knew Mr. Torres?"

"Noah?" Geoff asked, his memory a bit foggy. "Yeah, he's from the island."

Unlike Carmen, Heidi knew about the island, the action, and the world tour. Actually, a _lot_ of her father's friends were from that TV show… Her dad had only let her watch the first episode of the first season, but that was just to see what he, Uncle Owen, Aunt Izzy, LeShawna, Duncan, and a few of his other friends were like when they were just sixteen. He didn't really want her to see the rest. She never knew why, but respected her father's wishes and didn't try to find the DVDs that he hid.

"Carmen's dad knows him too, but from an airplane… I think he was talking about Total Drama… World Tour, right?" Geoff nodded as they pulled up to a stop light and Heidi continued, "He was being all secretive about it with Carmen, though."

"He probably didn't want Carmen to know about the show. A lot of us don't like talking about it…"

"Aunt Izzy and Uncle Owen don't mind talking about it." The light turned green and they kept driving.

Geoff rolled his eyes and smirked. "That's because all the insanity that show had to offer was their idea of a good time… Did you find out Carmen's dad's name? He probably was in one of the seasons."

"Alejandro." Heidi had thought that was an innocent answer, but the look on her father's face made it clear that there was more meaning behind it than just an average business man. "Are you okay, Dad?"

"Huh?" Geoff stopped glowering, then looked at his daughter as he pulled into their driveway. He shook off the urge to tell her what an awful man he was and mumbled, "Nothing… I knew him… We didn't really talk much."

"Oh…" Heidi grabbed her backpack and stepped out of the car, heading into the house with her father. He didn't sound like he wanted to talk about it, so she let it go. "Soooo, you have dinner yet?"

"No. You?"

"I left right as the cook started making it," Heidi explained, walking down the hall to throw her book bag in her room.

After Heidi was out of earshot, Geoff walked into the kitchen and grumbled to himself angrily, "Guess he's doing well, thanks to the million dollars he _cheated _everyone out of… The bastard."

"What was that, Daddy?"

Geoff's eyes widened, spinning around to see Heidi had come back and was standing in the doorway of the kitchen. "Uh, hey! Nothing…" He wasn't that concerned about the cussing, since Heidi was almost fifteen and had heard plenty of that talk from school, but he certainly hoped she hadn't heard anything about Alejandro scheming his way to the prize money. "Uh, you just wanna heat up a pizza?"

Heidi's confusion melted and she grinned. "Sure!" She flung the freezer door open and rooted around, pulling out a thin box. "Pepperoni?"

"You know it," he said with a small grin, still a bit shaken up. "Uh, can you get started on it? I have to… check up on stuff."

She nodded, turning a few knobs on their oven and pulling the frozen pizza out of the box. As he walked down the hall and into his office, he tried to calm down. "Okay, chill out, Geoff… You stopped dating Bridgette, like, twenty years ago. You still shouldn't be mad at Al…" But he knew it wasn't just that. He tricked Harold, LeShawna, Owen and a handful of his other friends, purely out of selfishness. And he got away with it.

But he can't be that bad now, right? He has a daughter now… But she could easily be a chip off the old block. Heidi had said that she was nice… But her father seemed nice at first, too…

* * *

As Alejandro slipped into bed and saw his wife, who was too busy reading a novel to notice him at first, he sighed and asked, "Heather?"

Heather looked up from her book and at her husband with curiosity. "Yes?" Heather truly had changed over the years. She was not nearly as mean as she had been when she was sixteen, since falling in love and becoming a mother had softened her up a bit. Even though she was kinder to her husband and extremely loving toward her only daughter, she still had her My Way Or The Highway attitude, especially when it came to other people. She was the queen of the PTA back in Newfoundland, since she was convinced that her little Carmen was better than all the other moms' children. An old dog can't learn _all _the new tricks, after all.

"Do you remember Geoff Sanders?"

"Geoff? From Total Drama?" Heather nodded, setting her book in her lap. "Yeah, why?"

Alejandro sat up more, running a hand through his dark hair. It was significantly shorter than it had been when he was a teen, but it stiff had a little scruff to it. "Turns out he has a daughter."

"Really?" Heather asked, shocked. They had lost contact with most of the cast years and years ago, since most of them hated them both and had no desire to stay in touch. "I never knew he and Bridgette had a kid. I at least _heard_ through the grapevine about the others' kids. So Geoff and Bridgette still live around here?"

Alejandro was silent for a moment, then said, "She's not Bridgette's daughter. I asked her about Bridgette and she had no clue who I was talking about. Said her mother's name was Candace or something."

"Candace?" Heather ran a hand through her long black hair, which had taken her years to fully grown back, and she grumbled, "That name sounds familiar…"

"I know, it does to me, too…" He looked to the side, then added, "But whoever she is, she isn't alive."

Heather raised an eyebrow. Sliding the book onto her bedside table, she asked, "She talked about that the first time she met you? Seems like a weird ice breaker…"

Alejandro bit back a smirk and explained, "She didn't flat out say it, but she talked about Candace in the past tense. I wasn't going to just ask if she was dead, but you could tell by how she talked about her."

"Hmm. I always thought Geoff and Bridgette would end up together," Heather mused, slipping into a laying position. "Maybe we should meet up with him…" She honestly felt bad about how she acted toward the other competitors back then. Sure, she wasn't a saint now, but she wasn't a flat out witch like she had been. She kind of wanted to apologize, but hadn't talked to any of them in years, so she had no idea where any of them where, or if they were even still alive. Geoff seemed like the guy who would stay in touch with his old friends, so maybe meeting back up with him would be a good way to start… But there was one other problem, of course. _How_ was she going to apologize? What would she even _say_? Sorry I kissed your boyfriend and got him voted off in the first season? Sorry I made fun of your frizzy afro that you had no control over in the second season? Sorry I made grinding sausages in the third season nine times as hard because I threw our electric grinder out the plane for no good reason other than my stubbornness?

"Not a bad idea, but… Let's wait, okay? Just so we can think about how to… approach it." Alejandro knew Heather regretted some of the things she did. He, however, regretted nothing. His scheming behavior won him a million dollars and drew him closer to his wife, so why would he? Still, this mystery Candace woman fascinated him, for some reason even he couldn't contemplate.

"Whatever," Heather said with an irritated sigh as she turned off the bedside lamp, enveloping the two in darkness.

Alejandro couldn't help but smirk as he slid down and enjoyed the cool silk sheets more. She really hadn't changed too much…

* * *

After finishing all of her homework for the night, not to mention the next few days, Melanie Torres got up from her kitchen table and placed the papers neatly into the backpack hanging on the coat rack by the front door. She ran a hand through her long brunette hair and tugged on her white button up blouse, because even at home she felt the urge to look her best.

She walked back to her father's small home office, where he was grading the papers he had collected that afternoon. "Dad?"

"Yes?" Noah answered, still not looking up from the paper and red pen in front of him.

"When's Mom coming home?"

"She probably won't be back for a few more hours," Noah told her, making a few red marks on the paper in front of him. "Why?"

"I just thought… We'd, y'know… be able to have dinner together… for once," she awkwardly said, looking down at her feet and scuffing the ground with the tip of her shoe.

Noah sided, spinning around in his spiral chair to face his daughter. "Melanie, you know we can't do that often. Your mother's always busy with work, I have papers to grade and I'm still working on my studies for my latest book and…" He sighed, hating to see the frown on her face. "Besides, you're fifteen years old. You're perfectly capable of making your own dinner."

"It's not just that, I…" Melanie shook her head. "Never mind. I'll make a TV dinner or something. Do you want something?"

"No thanks, I'll make something later…" He sat his pen down, right as the phone rang. He got up and walked out the door, patting his daughter on the shoulder as he did. He knew she was upset and wished there was something he could do, but there really wasn't…

Looking crestfallen, Melanie slowly walked into Noah's office, sitting down in his chair. She remembered how she had once played in there when she was little, pretending to be Mommy and throwing papers around here and there and scribbling all over Daddy's important documents with her crayons, even though that wasn't close to what her lawyer mother did. She learned that the hard way when her parents came home to the mess and gave her a long, hard scolding right before they fired her favorite nanny, who had been watching The Price is Right in the living room when she had done that.

Melanie sighed again, looking over at the Newton balls sitting on the corner of the desk. She had always wondered why her father had that, since he had a Bachelor's degree in pretty much every scientific field _except _physics, but she never bothered to ask. As she pulled the end ball and let it drop, she decided that he bought it because it was cool. Which it was, considering only the last two balls were moving. Melanie was always amazed at what certain things could do.

Resting her arms on the desk, she looked away from the shiny silver balls and looked at the only other thing on the desk that wasn't a stack of papers. It was a framed photo, depicting Melanie and her parents in London, Big Ben in the background. She had been twelve at the time, and it was the last vacation her and her parents had been on. It was right before her father's first book had been published, and the longest she had ever had one-on-one time with her mother and father.

Her mom, Courtney Torres, was a lawyer, and an amazing one at that. So amazing, in fact, that if a woman wanted to sue a restaurant because she spilt their hot coffee on her lap and burnt herself, Courtney would not only put the place out of business, but she'd probably be able to get you the manager's house, kids and pet cockatoo. She'd be lying if she said her mother hadn't managed to pull that off once or twice.

Noah Torres was a high school biology teacher, obviously, but he got most of his income from his writing. He had worked on several scientific studies over the years, condensing his research into a bajillion-page book, one that makes most college students shake in fright when they even _think _about reading it. But when people did read it, they had to admit that it was very well written and gave a lot of information on the subjects described. That could be why over five hundred thousand copies had been sold of it.

As you could tell, Melanie's parents were successful people. Oh, how Melanie admired them. She always did her best at everything she did, in hopes of becoming just as successful as her mom and dad. They had done so much with their lives, but she knew their accomplishments only came from hard, time-consuming work. She realized that, so she understood when they said they couldn't do things with her. She wasn't a child anymore.

So why did she still feel so sad?

It's not like they didn't love her or anything. She could tell her parents loved her with all their hearts, from the gentle way Courtney caressed her hair every morning as she hugged her before rushing off to work to the warm smile Noah greeted her with when she reentered his classroom after school. Melanie knew her parents weren't the kind of people to display affectionate emotions much, so those small moments meant a lot to her.

Still, those were what she got most of the time. Small moments. Melanie didn't have a huge amount of friends, since she was more withdrawn than most, but the few good friends she had were always telling her about going on shopping sprees with their moms or baseball games with their dads. Courtney wore the same type of clothing everyday, so shopping with her would be no fun, and Noah hated sports, so he'd just complain during a baseball game and then neither of them would have fun. But she'd still like more quality time with them. But work came first, fun came second.

_And apparently_, Melanie thought, _so do I._


	3. Cell Sex and Big Surprises

A few days had passed since the day Heidi met Alejandro Burromuerto, but Geoff couldn't help but think about him. Why had he moved into town? Just what the heck was he up to nowadays, anyways?

To his chagrin, Heidi went over to his house to study with Carmen a few more times. The days he picked Heidi up from the Burromuerto house, he'd ask how Alejandro was doing and she'd give him the usual 'Fine, I guess.' Heather rarely came home in time for her to have gotten to properly meet her, so he didn't ask as much about her. Besides, it was Alejandro he was worried about.

Carmen would stand at the door and wave goodbye to the two as they drove off, but Alejandro never joined he, or looked out the window, and he certainly didn't come out to catch up with Geoff. He assumed it was either because he was busy, he had no idea what to say after knowing what he did all those years ago, or he just didn't want to. Geoff was relieved to not have to talk to him, either way. If he was evil back when he was a _teenager, _who knows what kind of person he was now!

Still, Heidi thought he was nice. Maybe he was. He didn't know. Nobody did.

"Alejandro?" Duncan repeated, raising an eyebrow as Geoff hung up his jacket and waited for Heidi to walk through the door. "Haven't heard that name in a while. You sure it's him?"

"How many guys do you know named _Alejandro Burromuerto_?" Geoff asked, giving Duncan a look that Duncan would usually give him. He should _not_ have to be the smart one in their friendship.

"You got a point there," Duncan said, right as a remote controlled racecar zipped past his feet and almost made him lose his footing. An eight year old boy with light brown skin and dark black hair ran past, yelling, "Sorry, Dad!" as he ran past his father, remote in his hands.

"DANIEL BENJAMIN CALIVER, how many times do I have to tell you to be careful with that thing?" a loud voice bellowed from the kitchen.

"Calm down, LeShawna," Duncan called out as he looked toward the kitchen's door, patting his youngest son on the back when he walked up to him with an apologetic look. "Danny isn't hurting anything!"

Geoff never thought he'd see the day where Duncan would be the _easy_ parent. He sure wasn't a softie but he wasn't as strict as LeShawna. It was ironic, considering he was a police officer and all, but after living life with a cop father who ruled the house with an iron fist, he knew being too hard on kids made them rebel and pierce their faces all up and steal cars. Duncan was the good cop, but LeShawna was what could be considered as 'the bad cop' in their family.

She loved her kids to pieces, of course, but when they needed to be straightened out, she was quick to scold them. And when she started flat-out yelling, Duncan would be there, occasionally trying to get her to calm down before she slapped one of them. But she knew what she was doing, so he didn't interfere too much. And hey, he wasn't one to let his kids get away with stuff either.

LeShawna walked out of the kitchen, a bowl of rolls still in her hands. She glared at her husband and told him, "You won't be saying that when you step on that car, fall and break your neck!"

"I'm sorry, Mom. I'll be more careful," Danny apologetically said, picking his toy car up.

LeShawna gave him a look, but once she saw he meant it, she calmed down and ruffled his hair. "Okay, baby. Go put that away, dinner should be ready soon." He nodded and ran up the stairs, right past his seventeen-year old sister. "Jade, tell the others that the Sanders are here, will you?" Jade continued walking, right past her. "Girl, did you not just hear me?"

Duncan could see she was wearing her iPod headphones, so he yanked one out as she walked by, which made her stop. "Jade, get Trevor and Bailey. And turn those things down before you go deaf."

Jade rolled her eyes, but still smirked. "Okay, fine, Pops. Sheesh." She noticed Geoff for the first time and quickly smiled. "Oh, hi!" She waved at him before running back up the steps.

Geoff chuckled, then looked back to see Heidi finally came in, some two-liters of soda in her hands. "Hi, Uncle Duncan, Aunt Shawna!" She gave them both an awkward hug, since the two-liters sort of took up all her arm room.

"Hey there, baby girl," LeShawna warmly said, patting her on the back with her free hand. "Put those in the kitchen, will you?"

"Sure!" She walked through the door, but someone who had snuck past the adults latched onto one of her legs. She looked down, then grinned. "Hey, Bailey!"

The little girl, no older than four, looked up at her with bright, happy eyes. "Hi!" She hugged her leg even tighter. Heidi was her favorite person outside her immediate family, so she was always happy to see her.

"What, don't I get a hug?" Geoff asked with a chuckle, feigning sadness.

Bailey looked up at him and gasped, like she seriously thought he was sad. He was her second favorite, after all… She made her way over to him and he crouched down to hug her. After he ruffled her hair and stood back up, the three females made their way into the kitchen and a young man in an orange hoodie and black jeans made his way down the steps. "Hey, Geoff," the boy greeted as he walked up to the older men. "Have you guys seen Bailey? She ran off."

"In the kitchen with your mom and Heidi," Duncan said, jerking a thumb toward the kitchen.

"Oh, okay," Trevor calmly said, his dark eyes calm, like they always were. Geoff was always joking that LeShawna must have adopted Trevor behind Duncan's back, since he was so calm and pacifistic and his parents… weren't. But hey, an attitude can skip a generation, right?

"Where's Jade?"

"She's changing her shirt. Again," Trevor told them as he rolled his eyes. "She smelled spaghetti and marinara, so she's putting on a red shirt. I guess it's a good idea, considering how much of a slob she is."

Duncan laughed and playfully shoved his son. "Quit making fun of your sister and get the table set," he asked, and Trevor nodded and walked into the kitchen.

"They're such stereotypical twins," Geoff said with a laugh. "Y'know, total opposites and all that."

"You're telling me. I'm the one who's had to put up with them for the past seventeen years," Duncan jokingly groaned. "And thanks for getting the soda, man. Jade and Danny go through so much, we can never stay stocked."

"No problem, we keep a ton around," Geoff said, sitting on the steps and looking as if he wasn't really all there.

Duncan raised an eyebrow. "You still thinking about Al?"

Geoff shook his head, even though he _was_. "I just have a bad feeling about him. And Carmen."

"People change, Geoff," Duncan reminded him, leaning against the railing. "I mean, look at me."

Geoff smirked a bit and nodded. "Yeah… Yeah, I guess you're right."

"Stop thinking about him. Start thinking about LeShawna's bitchin' cooking." He lightly shoved him on the shoulder, then headed toward the kitchen.

Geoff shook his head as he stood up. "Great way to put it, Duncan…"

* * *

Heidi was sitting in her usual desk in Biology, actually looking forward to class for once. Ever since she had been getting help from Carmen, she had been improving. She wasn't getting top marks, but Bs weren't bad, right? They were far better than the Ds she _was_ getting…

Noah was walking around the class, passing out some graded test papers. He never really commented when he passed papers out, but when he slipped Heidi's paper onto her desk facedown, he gave her one of his rare, non-sarcastic smiles and said, "Nice work, Heidi."

He walked by, and Heidi flipped the paper over immediately. She had to bite her lip to keep from screaming in joy.

Thomas, still seated to her right, leaned over to look at her grade and nodded. "An A? Nice one, Sanders."

Heidi looked over at the blonde boy, raising an eyebrow. Not that she didn't appreciate the compliment, especially since they hadn't really talked, but… "I have a first name, Thomas."

"Right. Heidi, then. Good job."

She finally smiled. "Thank you. What did you get?"

His calm smile disappeared and he settled back into his seat. He looked down at his paper, which he had flipped over to the black back as soon as he saw the poor grade on the front.

Heidi stopped smiling. "Oh. It's okay, you don't have to tell me."

He looked up at her, still not smiling, but nodded. "Thanks," he quietly said.

Once Noah was done passing out the papers, he took his place back up at the front of the room and the class focused on him. "Some of you did very well on the test… Better than others, I must say." Even though that comment wasn't specifically directed toward him, Thomas slumped in his seat more. "But we won't have another test for a while…" After the class let out loud cheers, he finished, "because you all will be working on a project for the next few weeks."

Half the class groaned in frustration, but the other half certainly didn't look happy about it. Mr. Torres never let his students pick their own groups, so that made matters worse.

"You'll be in groups of four, and the groups will be chosen by me. You will be allowed to choose your own topic, as long as it relates to biology." As he picked up a stack of papers off of his desk, he looked over at Felix McGrady and narrowed his eyes. "That means no baking soda volcanoes."

"Okay, I learned my lesson last year!" Felix huffed, crossing his arms. "GOSH!"

Noah ignored him and handed a few papers from his stack to the person at the front of each row of desks. They started passing the papers back and he continued, "On these papers are lists of sites where you can get ideas for your project. I suggest you all work long and hard on it. It makes up a huge chuck of your grade." He looked down at the lone paper he kept, which was his roster. "When I say your names, get together with your groups and begin to discuss your topic… Quinn, Erika, Bryan, and Liam… Dillon, Edwin, Jessica and Randall… Felix, Kendall, Chase and Sara… Heidi, Carmen, Thomas and Melanie…"

As Noah continued to list the groups, Heidi and Carmen stood up, quietly grinning at each other. What luck, right? Thomas walked over to the two girls, slinging his arms around their shoulders. "Thank God I got three smarties in my group. Now I can slack _and_ get an A…" When the two girls narrowed her eyes at him, he chuckled and took his arms off of them. "I kid, ladies. I'll work, but I'm not guaranteeing it will be right or up to your standards."

"Please, I got _one_ A," Heidi quietly said. "I'm not a genius. But Carmen and Melanie will hopefully be able to make us less stupid," she teased, lightly elbowing Thomas' arm. He chuckled and nodded.

Carmen was about to add something, but Melanie had finally joined them, her paper in her hands. "Hello," she quietly said, a shy smile on her face. "Shall we get started?"

"Sure thing!" Carmen said, sitting back down in her desk. The others joined her in the desks around her. "Any ideas?"

Heidi slumped, looking deep in thought, but ended up blurting the first thing at came to mind. "Uh… Hobos?"

Carmen stared back at her like she was an idiot. "What do hobos have to do with biology?"

"Biology is the study of _life_," Heidi pointed out, blushing in embarrassment. "Hobos live!"

"In cardboard boxes under bridges!" Carmen finished. "So no hobos!"

"Maybe we should figure the topic out when we have access to a computer," Melanie quietly suggested, looking down at her desk to avoid making eye contact. "It would be easier… The sites would give us ideas and all."

"Good idea, Mel," Thomas, seated to her right, said with a nod and a grin. He gently grabbed her chin and tilted her head so that she was looking him directly in the eye. "But speak up, okay? We can barely hear you."

Melanie bit her lip and nodded once Thomas let her chin go. Thankfully, her dark skin hid her light blush. Only about five guys have touched her in her life, and considering more than half of them were related to her, how could she help it?

"We should meet at the library after school," Carmen said, the natural leader in her coming out once more. "Not the school one, the public one. There's more room to work there and they have better computers."

"Sounds good," Heidi said with a nod. "Will you all be able to get rides there?"

"I'll ask my dad if our driver can come and pick us up after last period," Carmen said. "Then everybody's parents don't have to waste their time and gas."

"Driver?" Thomas asked, raising an eyebrow. "Impressive."

Carmen couldn't help but smile with pride. "I know…"

* * *

"Mitosis?" Thomas asked, scratching his head and staring at the webpage on the computer screen in front of him. "Uh, why don't we talk more about Heidi's hobo idea?"

"Because that idea sucks," Carmen calmly said, seated to his left. Heidi, taking the other seat next to her, shot her a glare, to which she patted her back and said, "Oh, you know I love you, chica."

Melanie was in the seat to Thomas' right. She looked at him nervously and said, "We don't have to do this one, if you don't want to. It was just a suggestion."

Thomas shrugged and quietly said, "Better than anything I could come up with." He skimmed the webpage and muttered, "Let's see… Mitosis is the process by which a eukaryotic cell separates the chromosomes in its cell nucleus into two identical sets in two nuclei… Nifty."

"I guess we'll just explain the process?" Heidi said to the group, her tone implying it was more of a question than a suggestion. Melanie bit her lip and nodded, as if she was too afraid to vocally agree.

"We should get a poster to put all our info on." Carmen scooted closer to Thomas to get a better look at the website. "We can draw this diagram thingy right there and write all the details under it." She pointed to the diagram so everyone could see what she was talking about.

"I guess we should start getting info," Thomas said, opening up a word document to take notes with. "The first phase is interphase... Oh, so it's like cell sex!"

Melanie let out a small giggle and said, "Um, not quite, Thomas... Sex is inter_course_. Mitosis is more like cell multiplication."

"Oh."

"Maybe we could also explain the significance of mitosis?" Melanie suggested. "We could do a lot with that, and since this a big project, just explaining the process of mitosis might not be enough."

Carmen nodded. "Hey, you know the guy grading this better than we do! You're the boss!"

"Boss?" Melanie's eyes widened as she shook her head and nervously smiled. "Oh, no no no. I'm not exactly the leader type."

"C'mooooon, Mel," Thomas jokingly whined, nudging her lightly. "You can do it. We have confidence in you!"

"I don't want to be bossy or anything," Melanie quietly said, looking down at her hands as she folded them neatly on her lap.

"I, uh…" Thomas stopped to laugh and finished, "I don't think you have to worry about that."

Heidi smacked him on the back of his head and glared at him. "Don't be rude. Not everybody likes being a loudmouth like you." As Thomas pouted and rubbed his sore head, Heidi softly smiled at Melanie. "We aren't going to make you the leader. We don't need one, anyway."

"I guess you're right," Carmen said. "If we split the work evenly, then what's the point?"

"Alright," Melanie said with a smile. "I'll see if there are some magazines with some information."

"I'll come with you!" Carmen hopped up and the two girls walked off toward the magazine racks on the other side of the library.

As soon as they were out of sight, Heidi smacked Thomas on the back of his head once again.

"Ow! For a girl who looks so sweet, you hit hard!" Thomas whined, rubbing his head.

"Lay off of Melanie!" Heidi demanded. "She's shy! Your pestering must be making her feel awful!"

"I was just trying to boost her confidence!" Thomas said, looking genuinely sorry.

Heidi glared at him, then sighed. He had his heart in the right place. Too bad his head was too far up his… Never mind. "Putting her on the spot isn't going to help. My cousin Dora's kind of shy, so I know that. Just be nice and she'll open up more."

Thomas slowly nodded. "Okay…"

Heidi nodded, turning back toward the computer screen. Thomas did the same. They stared at all the scientific information on it with black expressions for a moment, then turned to face each other.

"Wanna hit the snack machines?" Thomas asked.

"… Sure."

* * *

"So, did you have a good time?"

After Thomas buckled his seatbelt, he looked up at his mother, seated behind the wheel, and gave her a cocky smirk. "Yeah, Mom. Working on a science project is even more fun than scrubbing toilets or- dare I say it- getting a tooth pulled."

Thomas' mom scoffed, but a small smile crept onto her lips. "You know what I meant."

"Yeah, it was decent. I got paired with three ho-" He paused, seeing the warning look in his mother's green eyes and reworded his statement. "Um, **nice** girls." She pulled away from the library's entrance, right as a car being driven by a butler pulled up behind her and Heidi and Carmen ran out to it. "Oh, those were two of my partners."

"Really?" She tried looking through her rear view mirror, but she had driven too far away by that point. "Oh. I didn't see them…"

"Junior's coming over for dinner at your friend's house tonight, right?" Thomas asked, slumping down in his seat to get comfortable. "I wanna tell him how I scored three more women than he ever did in high school."

His mother laughed as she pulled onto a street leading into a neighborhood that was unfamiliar to the two. "Yes, I'm sure your older brother would love to hear you make fun of him, so it's a good thing he's meeting us there… Do you see it? The address is 99 Misty Lane."

"Uh…" Thomas looked out his window once again, reading the numbers on the mailboxes that they drove past. "93, 95, 97... There, 99." He pointed toward a certain house and added, "That white house over there…"

Several cars were parked on the street by the house, so she decided to take an opening by a silver Prius. Once they both got out of the car and Thomas grabbed the casserole that his mom made for the gathering, they walked up to the house and Thomas rang the doorbell.

The door flung open and there stood none other than Lindsay, who looked so youthful, you wouldn't believe she was almost forty. The chatter and laughter of others could be heard in the background as Lindsay gathered Thomas' mother into a hug. "Brittany! It's so great to see you! It's been years!"

The woman hugged back as Thomas walked inside to set the casserole down somewhere and see if his brother had arrived yet. She separated from the fellow blonde, smiling at her. "It's great to see you too, Linds, but… My name's Bridgette."

I'm not too happy with this chapter… Yet I am. I'm weird. Be easy on me. The next chapter will be better. C:


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